A popular expression used by French Canadians, which depicts the urge to film and/or take as much pictures as possible of an event which seems amazing when seen in real-time, but appears devoid of interest when looking back at the footage and/or photos.

The expression's name relates to whale tours, a popular tourist attraction in Québec's Côte-Nord, during which this phenomenon is very frequent among newcomers.

Quebecer 1: Can you believe this? Aunt Jeanne managed to fill 3 memory cards with her photos from the whale tour...
Quebecer 2: Whale syndrome. Don't worry about it, that's a family trait. It's just like my grandfather who films fireworks shows.